Breadcrumbs for the Visitor

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Cozy Fantasy

When I say Cozy Fantasy, what comes to mind? Do images of Agatha Christie surrounded by flittering fairies zoom across your vision? Or maybe, you see favorite scenes from a beloved movie like Shrek or the Wizard of Oz. Thinking more contemporary? What about Once Upon a Time? A current hit on US television? To me, a cozy fantasy allows the characters to take center stage. The plot is tight and little or no gratuitous death occurs. Sure they are non-human creatures, and magic is a part of their reality, but the ugly need to describe in titillating detail each and every wound is simply missing. Cozy fantasy focuses on the protagonist and her journey to change. One last element is humor, appropriate to the character and setting.I read a lot of fantasy, and I'm worried that the cozy fantasy is fading away, a relict of the past, but it can't be. When I read, I want to enter the head of the characters, feel what they feel, laugh when the laugh, and cry when they cry. That's the way I write. I don't know any other way. Comment below if you agree with me. I'm feeling like a dinosaur in an ugly world."There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."Alfred Hitchcock

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About Me

I believe we humans have lost our compassion, our empathy, our humanity. I also believe we can regain these vital emotions by exploring our ancient legends.

Our ancestors developed a rich mythology to explain natural phenomena, and to establish the mores of their culture, but modern humans have abandoned those myths because we knew better. However, in doing so, we lost something. So I have returned to the legends of the Norse, my ancestors. Trolls, Dragons, Fairies, and other fantastical beings inhabited their world. They were unquestionably real to the Vikings. But time passed and we rushed through the industrial revolution, world wars, the space age, and now the microprocessor age. We know better, but we have lost our connection to the natural world.

I've always felt like a misfit, adrift in a confusing society and misaligned with my friends, my family, my lover--everyone. Then it hit me: We All Feel Like a Misfit.

I returned to macro photography, a passion I had abandoned years earlier, but I had recently rediscovered. As I snapped photos of unique features on the forest floor, I began to imagine tiny, hidden, and misunderstood creatures still living as they always had, but we had forgotten them. Time had plodded on, and they too had changed, but they had never forgotten.

It's important that I place my characters on an unspoiled landscape. Like me, they are fascinated, grateful, and even a little fearful of the natural world. It's important that I remain respectful when I graft new limbs onto ancient legends. So if you feel lost or alone, a misfit in the sterile, modern world read the Legends of the Aurora to regain your humanity.